Here’s what the critics are saying.
Although the attention is on Super Mario Party Jamboree this week, next month sees the arrival of the new RPG Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
If you haven’t already seen our own ‘hands on’ here on Nintendo Life, we think this etnry will be worth the wait and seems to take the best bits from the AlphaDream playbook:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Wave 1 is available now.
To celebrate the arrival of Super Mario Party Jamboree this week, Nintendo has released a brand new wave of Switch Online icons.
The first wave is now available, with rotations lasting until November. The first batch includes avatars for Mario, Bowser, Wario and the rest of the gang. These will set you back 10 Platinum Points each and you can also grab some backgrounds and borders for 5 Platinum Points each.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
“My Final Fantasy.” That’s how I described the first 8-Bit Adventures game in 2015. But while my work was heavily inspired by the legendary series, I really meant this as a personal ultimatum. I’d spent four years making games on PC and mobile which failed to turn a profit. So just like Hironobu Sakaguchi (the creator of Final Fantasy) in 1987, I was prepared to quit the industry and give up on my dreams if 8-Bit Adventures 1 was a failure.
What a difference nine years can make! Now the sequel 8-Bit Adventures 2 launches today on Xbox, against a backdrop of growing popularity and glowing public reception – including (at the time of writing) an 87 score on Metacritic, a 91 score on OpenCritic, and a Very Positive rating from players on Steam.
It’s been described by players as a “story-telling masterpiece”, with writing that is “inspiring” and which provides an emotional journey that’s “up there with Chrono Trigger” – accompanied by characters that are “grounded and relatable”. Other players said that it’s “a whole, full, new, refreshing, satisfying RPG”, “game of the year on its character writing alone”, and “the best RPG that I’ve played in years.”
Earning that reception has taken nine years of hard work from a team of four. But how was this achieved, and what really makes an RPG special? In 8-Bit Adventures 2, I believe it comes down to three core elements – characters, combat, and community.
The most essential element of any RPG is the characters. If I think back on Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Trigger, Persona 5, or Baldur’s Gate 3, the first thing I remember is the cast and how I connected with them. So seeing players relate to every member of the 8-Bit Adventures 2 party has been especially satisfying – be they a sharp-tongued former thief with a heart of gold, a blind martial artist with a desire to prove her worth, or an Exterminator-class robot who struggles with the limitations he was programmed with.
But not only did I want the characters to be memorable and relatable; I wanted them to be always present. One of the issues with a lot of classic RPGs is that you’d only have three or four allies participating in battles and story sequences at once; it was hard to make full use of the entire cast. In 8-Bit Adventures 2, the full party is always present, and you can swap characters in and out of battle without wasting a turn. This means you don’t have to stick with a few favourites while everyone else sits on the bench. Rather, every character gets their time in the spotlight – especially since, inspired by Mother 3, the characters are always visible and showing off their personalities in combat.
And character swapping is not only an option; it’s an integral part of combat. You have seven playable characters, each with an arsenal of unique abilities suited to different situations. But taking a page from Chrono Trigger, we also have Combo and Trio attacks which allow different members of the party to team up and deliver devastating blows. Combined with equipable Augments and Accessories which grant special bonuses and status buffs, and a turn-based system inspired by Final Fantasy X (allowing you to see and manipulate the order of turns ahead of time), you can devise some incredible strategies which take advantage of your entire party in a single fight.
But beyond characters and gameplay mechanics, I feel that 8-Bit Adventures 2 is a game which was shaped by our community. Nine years of development is a long time, but what it also offered was nine years of engaging directly with RPG fans and applying their feedback. This ranged from adding a sprint button, to removing random encounters, to speeding up the flow of dialogue, and much more.
I’ve made it a point to try and respond to every comment about my games, even if it’s just to say thank you. That’s getting progressively harder, but I think it’s really important and can open up some amazing discussions with insightful players. These interactions have encouraged me to put my own passions and inspirations on full display. Because it turns out that if I want to see, for example, a new take on Final Fantasy X’s battle system, a lot of other RPG fans will also feel the same way!
And so I find myself where I was nine years ago – on the verge of releasing another personal “Final Fantasy”. Yet things are different this time. On the one hand, I’ve put almost a decade of my life into this project, so the stakes feel higher than ever – especially since I want to fund future games. But on the other hand, most players and critics love 8-Bit Adventures 2, we’re reaching a wider audience on new platforms like Xbox, and I’m supported by a wonderful community of fans. I’m even reaching media with help from the wonderful team at PR Hound. So rather than an ultimatum, this time it feels like the beginning of something special.
I started making games because I wanted to make people happy – the way titles like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger did for me. I strongly believe that entertainment should leave us in a better place than where it found us. So, if you’re looking for an uplifting experience – and if you love Japanese-style RPGs, turn-based combat, or story rich games – I sincerely invite you to try 8-Bit Adventures 2, out today on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S!
Critical Games
When a mistreated child with impossible powers threatens to reshape the world, a hero’s disappearance kicks off a grand adventure – and a battle for survival…
While it may be a sequel, anyone can jump into this all-new JRPG experience!
The post Nostalgia Perfected – How 8-Bit Adventures 2 Won Hearts with Pixels appeared first on Xbox Wire.
We’ve seen the cost of SSDs trending upward for most of 2024, but lately it looks like prices have normalized and are even starting to drop back down. Today, Amazon is offering the Nextorage Japan 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) for $119.99 exclusively for Prime members. This SSD includes a preinstalled heatsink for PS5 compatibility out of the box.
Amazon Prime member exclusive
The PlayStation 5 console comes with a 1TB SSD, but 300GB of that is reserved for the OS, leaving around 700GB left over for games. That space will run out quickly because some games take up an enormous amount of space, especially if you buy digital copies. For example, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, and NBA 2K25 all require 140GB each. Even older games like God of War: Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, and Horizon Forbidden West require 90GB of space apiece.
The Nextorage Japan SSD is a guaranteed fit in both the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Slim consoles. Performance-wise, it boasts read speeds of 7,300MB/s and write speeds of 6,900MB/s, which is well above Sony’s minimum recommendation of 5,600MB/s. It’s also pre-equipped with a low-profile aluminum heatsink. The 2TB capacity triples the storage of a PS5 or doubles the storage of a PS5 Pro, which should be enough for most people.
There’s an interesting story behind Nextorage Japan. Nextorage describes itself as a company that was “created by a group of ex-Sony engineers and staff with over 20 years of experience in the development of memory and storage products.” Nextorage was originally created by Sony in 2019 as an SSD sub-division about a year before the PS5 was released. Presumably this was to be the basis for an official SSD sold by Sony direct. For whatever reason, Sony decided to ditch that idea and sold this business to another stakeholder in the company, Phison, in 2022. Phison is another large reputable company that specializes in solid state memory controllers. You’ll find its controllers in name-brand SSDs like Seagate, Corsair, and Sabrent. Under Phison, Nextorage Japan eventually accomplished the goal of releasing an SSD catered specifically for the PS5 console in the form of this product right here.
Amazon also has the PS5 compatible Lexar NM790 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) with pre-installed heatsink for only $128.99. This deal does not require an Amazon Prime membership. Lexar is a well-known and established flash memory brand and its SSD has garnered plenty of positive reviews. Performance-wise, it boasts read speeds of 7,400MB/s and write speeds of 6,500MB/s and it also includes a pre-attached heatsink.
If you’re not sure which SSD to get and need some advice, check out our favorite SSDs for the PS5. If you want more deal options, here’s a list of all of the best PS5 SSD deals available right now. For those of you who don’t yet own a PS5 console, the new PS5 Pro is currently up for preorder and ships out next month. This is a more powerful version of the PS5 with double the storage capacity at a significantly higher price.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Don’t Nod’s ongoing struggles continue, with the company announcing it’s preparing to implement a reorganization that could result in layoffs of up to 69 employees.
The announcement comes with the company’s financial results for the first half of the year today, which showed an 11% year-over-year decline in operating revenue. Per the company, the decline is the result of Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant not performing as well as expected.
“Our half-year results for 2024 reflect the economic underperformance of our latest release, despite solid ratings on Metacritic, as well as the accounting impact of the decisions we had to take,” said CEO Oskar Guilbert in a statement. “The initial performance support measures announced last spring no longer seem sufficient to maintain the company’s competitiveness. As a result, today we presented a reorganization project to the employee representative bodies, which could set Don’t Nod on a new development trajectory. I am fully conscious of the impact this project may have on all our employees. Securing our company’s resources and restoring its ability to perform more in an increasingly competitive and selective industry is extremely necessary.”
The company has already taken some restructuring measures to reduce costs, including “pressing pause” on two unannounced projects. However, this seems to not be enough, as Don’t Nod is also expecting to lay off a number of individuals in the coming months. The exact number is still in flux, as Don’t Nod management must negotiate with employee union representatives and may implement other measures such as a voluntary redundancy plan. Notably, earlier this year, the representative French union Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) accused the company of mismanagement, claiming employees were facing burnout due to the ongoing reorganization and that communication, understaffing, and shifting deadlines were endangering the workforce.
According to a games industry layoff tracker, over 13,000 game developers have been laid off just this year (including 32 just yesterday at Riot Games). Over 10,000 developers were laid off in 2023 and over 8,000 in 2022. We’ve previously reported on how the ongoing industry mass layoffs have impacted those affected by them.
Don’t Nod has said that Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is still on track for its February 18, 2025 release, and that two other projects in development are expected to release before the end of 2027.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
One of the best high-end TV deals is discounted early for Black Friday. Amazon is offering the 65″ LG Evo C3 4K OLED Smart TV for only $1,296.99. This is a 2023 model that has been superseded by the 2024 C4 model, however both TVs have nearly identical picture quality and the C4 is $300 more expensive right now.
LG’s C-series OLED TVs have won top spots in several of our buying guides, including best 4K TV, best TV for gaming, and best TV for the PlayStation 5. It’s a great match for the new and more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro that’s currently up for preorder.
The C3 is the previous generation 2023 model among LG’s highly vaunted C-series OLED TV lineup. Compared to a traditional LED LCD TV, an OLED TV offers superior image quality, near-infinite blacks, near-infinite contrast ratio, and near-instantaneous response times. The C3 uses LG’s Evo panel, which offers higher brightness levels than traditional OLED TVs. Because of these advantages, the OLED TV excels at displaying 4K HDR content in all of its intended glory. Compared to other OLED TVs, LG has the most generations of updates and improvements.
The C3 also has all the features you’d want in a gaming TV. It has four HDMI 2.1 ports all capable of up to 120Hz refresh rate at 4K resolution. That’s great news for PS5 (and now PS5 Pro), Xbox Series X, and PC gamers, since several games can be played at frame rates of 120fps. The C3 also supports variable refresh rate (VRR) including Nvidia G-Sync and auto low latency mode (ALLM). When connected to a PC, it supports chroma 4:4:4 for better text legibility.
A particularly nice feature that isn’t advertised often is the surprisingly light weight of the C3. The 65″ TV weighs in at only 36.6 pounds without the stand. That’s because the rear cabinet housing is made of a composite fiber that’s lighter than the plastics most TVs use. It might not matter much in the long term, but this is a welcome advantage when you are first setting up your TV, especially if you plan on wall mounting.
The LG Evo C3 is a 2023 model, just one year behind the 2024 LG Evo C4. So what are the differences? Aside from the $300 price difference, not much. The most important trait – picture quality – is more or less identical. Where the C4 improves on the C3 are an upgraded processor, newer WebOS smart interface, and a higher 144Hz refresh rate, all of which are updates that you may very well never notice.
Although this is an extremely good discount for one of our favorite gaming TVs, you may be wondering if you should wait until Black Friday to make a purchase. Black Friday 2024 will definitely have more options available, however if this particular model drops in price even more, it certainly won’t be by too much. Whatever you decide, this discount makes this easily one of the best TV deals right now.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Archetype Entertainment and Blur Studio’s space RPG Exodus was announced back in December, and was broadly notable for a couple of things: 1) Matthew McConaughey plays a character, and 2) the game’s story is woven around time dilation during faster than light travel, with star-hopping adventurers prosecuting a fight against evil Celestials over hundreds, perhaps thousands of years.
Now, it is notable for three things, the third thing being a cosmic blubber-spire of gurning faces who want to eat your ship and soul. Say hello to the Mara Yama, the ickiest Celestial faction so far. Here’s a trailer, in which McConaughey does that thing where he lingers on the sibilants and makes you want to lean in and vigorously mess up his hair.
Episode IX – The Misseds of Time.
Hello there, and welcome to the latest edition of our ‘Games We Missed’ series.
As you might gather from the name, this is our bi-annual round-up of reader-recommended Switch games which we weren’t able to cover for one reason or another.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The latest evolution of the iconic hockey game series, EA Sports NHL 25, is out now! EA Play members can skate onto the rink now with a 10-hour trial of the game (conditions, limitations and exclusions apply – see here for details) and experience unstoppable one-timers and heart-pumping breakways
NHL 25 is powered by Ice-Q, a new gameplay intelligence system that lets you control every inch of the ice. Experience true hockey intelligence with the modernized skating of Next-Gen Vision Control, an overhaul of Chel’s AI player movement, authentic Reactive Action animations and more.
EA Play members can also fly down the ice in style with in-game rewards including World of Chel Coins and Battle Pass XP Modifiers. Plus, those who decide to buy after their trial will have their progress carry over to the full game and they’ll get 10% off, thanks to EA Play’s member discount.
In addition to a NHL 25 trial, EA Play offers a variety of content to members each month. This month’s offerings can be found below:
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members receive EA Play with their Game Pass subscription. Members can experience the world of EA with unlimited access to a collection of top titles, trials of select new games, in-game member rewards and more. Members can unlock the thrill of their next favorite game with up to 10-hour trials of EA’s latest titles such as EA Sports FC 25, EA Sports NHL 25, EA Sports Madden NFL 25, EA Sports College Football 25, F1 24 and EA Sports WRC, in addition to access to an unrivaled collection of EA’s best-loved series and top titles, including Madden NFL 24, EA Sports FC 24 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Visit the EA Play page for more details, and to stay up to date on the latest from EA Play, follow EA Play on, Instagram, or X. Please see EA.com/EA-Play/Terms for terms and conditions.
The post Experience True Hockey Intelligence in EA Sports NHL 25 With EA Play appeared first on Xbox Wire.
It seems like there’s hardly a franchise that isn’t included as part of the massive Funko Pop! lineup. Now Funko is adding one of the biggest and best games of 2023 to its roster, as the company reveals a new line of Baldur’s Gate III-themed Funko Pop! toys.
Head to the slideshow gallery below to see all four figures included in this Pop! Games: Baldur’s Gate wave:
The Baldur’s Gate wave features three characters from the game and four figures in total. There are two versions of the High Elf Rogue Astarion, a standard version holding a dagger and a chase variant holding the Necromancy of Thay. Collectors have a 1-in-6 chance of receiving the chase version when they order Astarion.
Also featured in this wave are the Zariel Tiefling Barbarian Karlach holding her teddy Clive and the High Half-Elf Cleric Shadowheart.
These Baldur’s gate Funko Pop! figures are priced at $12 each and will be released in stores soon. You can find preorder links from Amazon below:
In other Baldur’s Gate III news, the massive Patch 7 is now available on PC, consoles, and Mac, bringing with it the very useful Mod Manager. Meanwhile, Larian Studios head Swen Vincke revealed it’ll be at least 2028 or 2029 before fans get to play the developer’s next game.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
